I wanted to make two Christmas flavor cupcakes for cupcake club. Mulled wine is pretty much as Christmas as it gets. The spices in the wine are very subtle but you can really taste the red wine in the chocolate. It would be a good idea to add a few teaspoons to the ganache as well (I unfortunately ran out).

If you want a chance to taste these make sure to come to Cupcake Club tomorrow (Monday November 29).

Mulled Red Wine Cupcakes

adapted from Life in a Peanut Shell (makes about 18)

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 cup self rising flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

2/3 cup sour cream

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup + 3 tbs mulled red wine (1 packet of mulled wine spice meant for 2 bottles of wine, 2-3 cups of red wine and 100g of sugar)

200g dark chocolate (I used Green & Black's 85% I think ended up being a little too rich though)

1 cup whipping cream

2 tsp mulled wine

dash of salt
chopped pecans for decoration

1. Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C and line muffin tray with paper liners. Make the mulled wine first by mixing the spices, wine and 100g of sugar in a small sauce pan and simmer for 20-30 minutes. It should reduce a lot and you will be left with just over half a cup. Strain out the spices and set the wine aside to cool.

2. Combine the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl.

3. Cream the egg, sour cream, oil and wine together on medium speed for 2 minutes.

4. Stir in the flour mixture until well combined. Fill each cup about 2/3 full and immediately put in the oven and bake for 17-20 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

5. To make the ganache pour the whipping cream in a saucepan and heat until boiling. Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate melts. Add the mulled wine and salt and stir to combine. Spoon over top of each cupcake and decorate with chopped pecans.

UPDATE: At Cupcake Club we discussed baking with alcohol and most of the time the flavor tends to bake out. Anne suggested that brushing the cakes with some mulled wine would also be a good idea.